Suicidal over £100,000 of Pacific Continental's tips

EVERY week, Tony Hetherington replies to readers' letters, adding comments, advice and the results of his enquiries.
If you think you are a victim of financial mismanagement, or want advice before investing, write to Tony Hetherington, Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS. Sorry, but he cannot give personal replies. Please send only copies of documents - if these are relevant to your enquiry. We regret that they cannot be returned.

C. D. H. writes: I have been suffering from depression and have contemplated suicide. Hopefully, I am now turning the corner. A while ago my father died and left me some money, which I decided to invest through stockbrokers Pacific Continental Securities. I travelled to London to meet them and I checked they were registered with the Financial Services Authority. Everything seemed fine and over the next 18 months I invested more than £100,000. I am now left with worthless paper and I have not worked for three months after receiving the broker's valuation. I wrote to the FSA but it will not say anything about the company. Pacific Continental's managing director Steven Griggs says I am the only person to complain, but I know this is not true.

OF all the horror stories I have heard from clients of Pacific Continental Securities, yours is the worst.

The firm, which is fully licensed by the Financial Services Authority, recommended nine stocks, all of which it is supposed to have researched thoroughly, including meeting the people behind the companies, and yet every share it tipped collapsed.

You were persuaded to invest £26,000 in Mediaworx. The broker's valuation shows your shares are worth £15, giving you a loss of £25,985. You were persuaded to invest £10,000 in Med Gen. The broker's valuation shows your shares are worth £18, giving you a loss of £9,982.

Then there are Anscott Industries, Communications Research, Great West Gold, Intelsys Aviation, Material Technologies and Roaming Messenger. Every one a red-hot tip from Pacific Continental to a long list of investors, not just you. And every one a loser.

And don't forget Accupoll, the share that was supposed to rocket because the company had produced a marvellous new voting machine for American elections.

Sadly, the broker's in-depth research failed to spot the company's links to a notorious US fraudster and the company went bust. Your shares are a write-off.

Apart from being duds, these shares have one thing in common. They were all issued by small American companies under a US law called 'Regulation S'. This says these high-risk shares do not comply with American investor protection laws, but it is OK to dump them on to foreigners.

So what made these shares suitable for your circumstances and needs? I asked Pacific Continental boss Griggs for a copy of his fact find - the record the firm should hold about your finances and requirements. He refused to hand it over.

I also asked him how much commission his firm received from the companies themselves for persuading you to buy their shares. Griggs refused to comment. He said you were an ' experienced investor' with a 'significant portfolio'. He told me that you 'understood the risks involved in dealing with these types of shares' and that you made the investment decisions.

Griggs did not comment on whether he claimed you were the only client to complain. I can only think this was a misunderstanding. I have received 50 complaints from very unhappy investors who lost a fortune at the hands of Pacific Continental. It is well aware of mounting complaints to me and to the FSA.

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Yet when you found I had warned against Pacific Continental in the past, the firm's ' complaints officer' Stuart Bold tried to fob you off with a letter saying: 'We enclose a copy of the retraction printed in The Mail on Sunday by Mr Hetherington in which he acknowledges that various statements concerning this firm were in fact incorrect and false.'

Garbage. Sheer, downright lies from Pacific Continental. I did not retract a single word.

In all my warnings about this firm, the only mistake was that I referred to its former American boss in the present tense, not knowing that since standing down he had died. And that is what was corrected.

Everything I have written about the disastrous shares tipped by Pacific Continental stands. Everything I have written about companies they have recommended that are linked to disreputable characters stands, too. So does everything I have written about the huge commissions they rake in from companies for promoting their high-risk shares.

The corrective action that is really needed has to come from the FSA. How many complaints does it take to spark an official investigation? If the FSA will tell me, Financial Mail will be very happy to hand over the evidence.

To win a lottery - you need to have entered in the first place

H.O.C writes: I am owed over 62.6 million euros plus $716 million by four agents of the lottery in Madrid. Each is entitled to 10% for having bought a ticket in my name. A bank is now demanding £1,925 before releasing a prize cheque. I have refused to pay, having already handed 300 euros to one agent. I am still waiting for my winnings from him, but now his bank is demanding £100. I reported this to the police, but they said there was little they could do.

THANK you for sending me the four letters you received, telling you of your winnings in Spanish lotteries you never entered. If the winnings actually existed, you would be claiming more than £419 million.

Sadly, all of the letters are fraudulent and the prizes are fictional. The only real money is the fees you have been asked to send to 'bankers' and 'agents'. You have parted with just over £200. Do not send another penny.

One letter supposedly from La Primitiva, a genuine lottery, says you have won 615,810 euros. Yet a week later, another letter supposedly from La Primitiva, but from a different address, says you have won $615,810.

Letters like yours arrive almost daily. Until the Spanish police and lottery organisers do something, these scams will continue.

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Frail couple abused in bank phonecalls

Mrs C. L. writes: I am nearly 70 and disabled. My husband is the same age and suffers from a heart condition. Two weeks ago, a man rang, asking for a relative. I explained that he had never lived at our address. The caller became abusive. He said he was calling from part of HSBC and if I did not pass on a message to my relative, men would come to my home. They would force their way in and take goods to the value of what my relative owed.

I explained that I did not know the relative's address. Days later my husband answered a call from a man who screamed down the phone. I disconnected the phone.

We received a letter saying that the caller was from Household Bank, part of HSBC. I replied, saying again that the relative had never lived at our address. I asked who supplied our address and phone number, but I have received no answer.

HOUSEHOLD Bank appears to be owed £238 by your relative and staff say that he gave your address. Needless to say, none of this excuses abusive or threatening calls.

Debt collectors cannot force their way into your home and take your property without a court order. Whether they were from
Household Bank itself or from debt collectors, whoever called you was committing an offence. The bank offers its apologies for this. I have been promised that you will not be bothered again and that nothing has been recorded against your address with any credit agency.